{"id":8364,"date":"2016-01-18T16:48:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T16:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8364"},"modified":"2016-02-01T14:32:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T14:32:09","slug":"london-critics-circle-film-awards-ovation-for-alan-rickman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8364","title":{"rendered":"London Critics’ Circle film awards: Ovation for Alan Rickman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Branagh,<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON\u00a0 \u2013 There was only one standing ovation at the London Critics\u2019 Circle Film Awards Sunday night and it was for someone who was not there: Alan Rickman, who died on January 14.<\/p>\n

The audience responded immediately and enthusiastically when Kate Winslet, as she accepted the award for best supporting actress for \u201cSteve Jobs\u201d, said tearfully that it seemed odd to celebrate in a week that had seen the loss of her co-star and director. The applause was loud and sustained.<\/p>\n

Winslet (pictured below) promised that she would not cast a pall over the evening and recalled a moment on the set of 1995 period film \u201cSense and Sensibility\u201d when she had an underwear malfunction. She said she whispered to co-star Emma Thompson, \u201cMy knickers have gone up my arse-crack.\u201d The actress explained that she\u2019d been in costume with a tight corset and it took a lot of wriggling and pulling to solve her dilemma.<\/p>\n

\"Kate<\/a>She said that Rickman, who played Colonel Brandon in the film, noticed her struggle and observed wryly, \u201cThe feminine mystique strikes again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Rylance, who was named best supporting actor at the awards, had begun the evening in a video he sent from a snowy location in the United States. Dressed in yellow fisherman\u2019s garb, he sat with a stick and piece of string. He reminded the audience that he had spent his youth in Wisconsin and liked to fish. The camera pulled back to reveal a small plastic fish on the end of a line. \u201cI\u2019ve caught a whopper,\u201d he said, as he offered thanks for his award.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very odd man,\u201d said his \u201cWolf Hall\u201d co-star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who was there to pick up the prize. He also praised Rylance as a generous and truthful man who is \u201cone of the greatest actors alive, or has ever lived\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maisie Williams (\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d) was there to accept her award as young performer for \u201cThe Falling\u201d but Saoirse Ronan and Tom Hardy, who won the awards for British\/Irish actress and actor, sent notes of thanks. George Miller sent videos of thanks for his award as best director and for film of the year, “Mad Max: Fury Road”.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Rampling was named actress of the year for \u201c45 Years\u201d, which won the Attenborough Award for best British or Irish film of the year. Director Andrew Haigh accepted both awards and read a note from Rampling in which she offered her thanks but suggested that such competitions are \u201ca strangely cruel sport. How can actors be pitted against one another?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>Tom Courtenay (pictured left), who was on hand to accept his prize for actor of the year, praised his \u201c45 Years\u201d co-star and said, \u201cThe main difference between men and women as they mature is that women like to keep their age a secret and men like to tell their age and how old they\u2019re going to be. I\u2019m going to be 79 [Feb. 25]. Sharing the stage with the glamorous Parisienne \u2026 that\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The highlight of the evening came when Judi Dench presented Kenneth Branagh (pictured top) with the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.\u00a0 The venerable actress, whose run of \u201cThe Winter\u2019s Tale\u201d with Branagh at the Garrick Theatre ended on the weekend, recalled another time when she was on stage with the actor\/director.<\/p>\n

She was playing the mother in \u201cCoriolanus\u201d, she said, and two lines in she fell and twisted her ankle. She asked if there was a doctor in the house and there was. He said it was a sprain but he fixed it and she carried on. Dench said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re stoic in the theatre, the audience love it. At the end, I had the best applause ever. Ken came over and said, \u2018Get off the stage you limping bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accepting his award, Branagh spoke fondly of an encounter with the late film critic Dilys Powell even though she had not liked his first film. He also thanked long-time Daily Telegraph theatre critic Charles Spencer for the early boost he gave to his career. He said he\u2019d been thinking a lot about critics since he learned of the Critics\u2019 Circle award.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cPowell taught me that you can talk and disagree and not take it personally. I\u2019m grateful for the attention. It\u2019s important that we continue to have professional critics who deliver practised and considered work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The awards were presented in a ceremony at the May Fair Hotel in London. Here\u2019s a complete list of the winners:<\/p>\n

Short Film: Benjamin Cleary\u2019s \u201cStutterer\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance in \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet in \u201cSteve Jobs\u201d<\/p>\n

Technical Achievement Award: Edward Lachman, cinematographer, \u201cCarol\u201d<\/p>\n

Screenwriter: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy, \u201cSpotlight\u201d<\/p>\n

Documentary: Asif Kapadia\u2019s \u201cAmy\u201d<\/p>\n

The Philip French Award for Breakthrough British\/Irish Filmmaker: John Maclean, director, \u201cSlow West\u201d<\/p>\n

Young Performer: Maisie Williams, \u201cThe Falling\u201d<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Actress: Saoirse Ronan<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Actor: Tom Hardy<\/p>\n

The Attenborough Award for Best British\/Irish Film: \u201c45 Years\u201d<\/p>\n

Actress of the Year: Charlotte Rampling, \u201c45 Years\u201d<\/p>\n

Actor of the Year: Tom Courtenay, \u201c45 Years\u201d<\/p>\n

Director of the Year: George Miller, \u201cMad Max: Fury Road\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign-language Film: Joshua Oppenheimer\u2019s documentary, \u201cThe Look of Silence\u201d<\/p>\n

Film of the Year: \u201cMad Max: Fury Road\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film: Kenneth Branagh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON\u00a0 \u2013 There was only one standing ovation at the London Critics\u2019 Circle Film Awards Sunday night and it was for someone who was not there: Alan Rickman, who died on January 14. The audience responded immediately … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[307,4219,4036,4218,4220,735,2042,760,1814,4217,1661,3480,1733,1511],"class_list":["post-8364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-news","tag-alan-rickman","tag-charles-spencer","tag-charlotte-rampling","tag-dilys-powell","tag-george-miller","tag-judi-dench","tag-kate-winslet","tag-kenneth-branagh","tag-london-critics-circle-film-awards","tag-maisie-williams","tag-mark-rylance","tag-saoirse-ronan","tag-tom-courtenay","tag-tom-hardy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8364"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8380,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions\/8380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}